How interacting networks of transcription factors and signal
transduction molecules guide the development of precursor/stem cells
into mature neurons. Role of these networks in neurodegenerative
diseases. Factors that can act as neuroprotective agents.

The primary focus of my research is to discover and characterize genetic changes including genomic deletions and duplications and single nucleotide mutations contributing to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, developmental delay and congenital malformation.

My research is focused on building tools to elucidate the complex genetic and environmental underpinnings of human disease. My lab works to integrate genetic (genotype, sequence, structural variation) and exposure (derived from surveys and metabolomics methods) big data to predict disease status. The ultimate goals of this work are to 1) enrich our understanding of the complex mechanisms that lead to common disease and 2) provide methods to identify those most at risk of disease (based on their genetic and exposure backgrounds) in a clinical setting.

Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Research in my Laboratory seeks to define the basic mechanisms by which pathogenic microbes successfully infect, colonize, and cause disease in their hosts. The research effort is organized along two thematic lines:

My field is statistical genomics and genetic epidemiology. Much of my research is focused on developing and applying statistical methods and computational tools for mapping complex trait and analyzing sequence data.

Structural, functional and comparative genomics of the mammalian Y‐chromosome; characterization of Y-chromosome variations and their application in male health, fertility, and reproduction in cattle and other livestock species; function of the PRAME/PRAMEY gene family during spermatogenesis in cattle and mice

He is particularly interested in integrating the idea and principle of systems biology into statistical genetic research, ultimately elucidating a comprehensive atlas of the genetic control network of complex biology.

Study the function of non-coding variant in the human genome and how they contribute to diseases such as cancer
Cancer epigenomics: investigate epigenetic marks for certain types of cancer with a hope that it may eventually contribute to drug discovery
Study the 3D structure of the genome organization by 5C/Hi-C, in particular the interactions between enhancers and their target gene promoters
Comparative genomics: investigate the evolutionary landscape of cis-regulatory elements in the mammalian genome